Latest editorial
Children take part in the Durham Miners' Gala in 2022
FORTY-FIVE years of Thatcherism have left our health, social care, local government and education systems wrecked, Mick Lynch told a packed eve-of-Gala in Durham on Friday night.
Addressing the joint Campaign for Trade Union Freedom-Institute of Employment Rights fringe meeting, the RMT leader said the new government had a chance to change course from the “unabated” neoliberalism that had hollowed out the public realm ever since the defeat of the miners’ strike 40 years ago.
But unions should not trust to politicians to do that: “We are an independent workers’ movement and we believe in socialism — that’s what we want, not just some reforms,” he urged.
With 170,000 children living in poverty in north-east England and teachers leaving in droves over 20 per cent real-terms pay cuts since 2010, all while private companies siphon off billions, it is time to unite and fight for education, writes MATT WRACK
The Gala’s core message of working-class solidarity offers renewed hope and provides the antidote to the anti-worker policies of Reform UK, argues IAN LAVERY MP
Durham Miners’ Association general secretary ALAN MARDGHUM speaks to Ben Chacko ahead of Gala Day 2025